Short answer

A free Catan Seafarers map generator for the 3–4 player Seafarers expansion. Each shuffle produces a randomised "Heading for New Shores" style layout: a main island, two discovery islands, sea hexes between them, and two gold-field tiles. Seeds are deterministic — copy the URL and your group sees the exact same map.

What this Catan Seafarers generator builds

The Seafarers expansion adds sea hexes, ships, and gold fields to the base game. The most-played introductory scenario is "Heading for New Shores" — a central island plus discovery islands waiting to be settled. This generator produces a faithful "Heading for New Shores" inspired layout with:

A 15-hex main island roughly the size of the classic 3–4 player Catan board.
Two 3-hex discovery islands separated from the main island by sea hexes.
Two gold-field hexes (the new "any resource of your choice" terrain).
One desert (where the robber starts), forest, hills, fields, pasture, and mountains in roughly Catan-classic proportions.
20 number tokens distributed across the 21 land hexes (one per non-desert hex).
The same toggleable balance rules as the base game — no red 6/8 adjacency by default.

Why generate Seafarers maps?

Hand-laying a Seafarers board takes long enough that most groups skip it. A Seafarers map generator solves that: pick the rules you want, click Shuffle, and the algorithm produces a board that satisfies the official red-number rule (no two 6/8 adjacent), keeps the extreme numbers (2 and 12) apart, prevents identical-number adjacencies, and distributes terrains across both the main island and the discovery islands. You get a fair, ready-to-play map in under five seconds.

Seafarers vs. base Catan — the key differences

Sea hexes — water tiles between landmasses that ships move across.
Gold fields — when activated, the owner picks any resource of their choice.
Ships — built like roads but along sea-edges; each ship is a movable trade route.
Discovery islands — bonus victory points for being the first to settle each one.
Pirates — appear in some scenarios to disrupt sea routes (analogous to the robber on land).

Using this Seafarers map generator with your group

Click Shuffle until you get a layout you like.
Toggle the Apply & shuffle rule constraints if you want spicier games — same-resource adjacency for thematic clusters, allowed 6/8 adjacency for high-variance openings.
Click Share to copy the URL and send it to your group. Same seed = same map for everyone.
Click PNG to export the map for printing or saving in your group's notes.

Heading-for-New-Shores layout rationale

The "Heading for New Shores" scenario was chosen as the default Seafarers template for a specific reason: it's the one layout from the official Seafarers rulebook that introduces every new mechanic — sea hexes, ships, discovery islands, gold-fields, pirates — without piling on so much complexity that first-time Seafarers players bounce off it. The generator preserves the structural skeleton of that scenario and randomises only what the rulebook itself allows to vary: terrain placement on each island, number-token distribution, and which two hexes are gold-fields.

Why two discovery islands and not one or three. A single discovery island compresses the bonus-VP race into a winner-takes-most sprint; three islands stretch the game past most groups' patience threshold. Two discovery islands at roughly three hexes each give every player a credible path to "first settler" VP without producing the same race every session — the generator places them on opposite sides of the main island so neither becomes the obvious target on contact.

Why two gold-fields, and what they do to balance. A gold-field rolls like any other hex (it produces on its number-token roll), but the activated player picks any resource. That makes a gold-field with a high-pip number (6 or 8) one of the strongest tiles in the game — strictly better than any single-resource hex, because it dodges resource starvation. The generator's red-number constraint applies to gold-fields too: a 6-gold-field and an 8-gold-field will never sit next to each other, and neither will share an intersection with another red token. That single rule prevents the worst-case "two-red gold corner" that can otherwise decide the game on placement order alone.

Why one desert. The standard Seafarers rulebook places one desert on the main island as the robber's starting hex. Two deserts would dilute the production of an already smaller main island; zero deserts removes the robber's setup. One is the right number.

Common questions

Is this a "Heading for New Shores" generator?

Yes — the layout is inspired by the introductory Seafarers scenario "Heading for New Shores" from the official 2025 Seafarers rulebook. Hex counts and proportions are matched closely; tile types and number tokens are fully randomised on each shuffle.

How many gold-field hexes does this generator place?

Two gold-fields for the 3–4 player layout. The 5–6 player Seafarers expansion generator places three.

Do I still need to lay out ships and harbours by hand?

Yes — the generator handles the land/sea board. Ports, pirate ships, and discovery-island chits are placed by you according to the scenario you're using.

Is this affiliated with CATAN GmbH?

No. CATAN® and Seafarers are trademarks of CATAN GmbH; this site is an unofficial fan tool with original placeholder visuals. See the Seafarers rules FAQ for a longer rules walkthrough.